AAA Lists Nation's Most Congested Highways

The Daily Auto Insider: AAA released its list of some of the country's worst "Commuter Hot Spots," locations which carry large volumes of traffic and result in some of the longest delays in the country.

AAA released its list of some of the country's worst "Commuter Hot Spots," locations which carry large volumes of traffic and result in some of the longest delays in the country.

Compiled from a survey of AAA's local club transportation experts, some of these stretches of highway include roads and bridges in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Atlanta, New York City, Seattle and the Washington, D.C. area (see list below). The choke points include areas where the number of lanes is quickly reduced, where several roads merge, where unfinished construction projects continue and where economic development has outpaced road capacity.

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AAA's Commuter Hotspots, 2005

The following is not a definitive top ten list but illustrative of the worst hotspots commuters face each day in this country, according to an AAA news release.

Boston, MA Interstate 93 north and south Boston's central artery has been the site of one of the most complex public works projects in history (called the "Big Dig") because it replaces the elevated pass through downtown. The on-going project is already reaping benefits for commuters because a major section of the tunnel is now open for traffic. It was built in the 1950s to carry 90,000 cars daily, but it now overflows with more than 200,000 cars each day. The project replaces the six-lane elevated highway with an eight- to ten-lane underground expressway directly crossing the Charles River.

Chicago, IL Interstate 88 at the Eisenhower Expressway Traffic from western suburbs comes to a halt as 34,000 cars from I-88 merge with 43,000 cars from the Eisenhower Expressway (I-290) every day. The road goes down to a single lane for 1 1/2 blocks before opening up to multiple lanes, so what should be a 20-minute trip to the city may end up taking well over an hour.

Dallas, TX Interstate 35 at Interstate 30 Known as the "Mix Master" by local motorists, these two local highways merge and struggle to carry more than 200,000 vehicles per day from downtown through the steep hills of "The Canyon."

Los Angeles, CA Interstate I-710 Freeway This freeway currently carries over 47,000 trucks per day. This is almost equivalent to 15 percent of the nation's total sea-borne cargo volume. The movement of goods to, from and through southern California will continue to grow as the region's economy does. The existing configuration cannot handle current truck and traffic volumes and the anticipated increases will make the heavily congested conditions even worse.

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Los Angeles, CA US 101/405 Interchange Located in the San Fernando Valley area north of Beverly Hills, this intersection handles commuters headed for downtown Los Angeles from west and north of the city. Traffic congestion lasts for about five hours every weekday afternoon.

Salt Lake City, UT Interstate 15 and the SR-92 Interchange Lakes to the west and the Wasatch Range to the east have funneled explosive population growth into this corridor. This interchange connects an existing two-lane highway to the interstate in a rapidly developing area; it is predicted that residents will see traffic increase 275 percent in the next five years alone.

Atlanta, GA Interstate 75 at I-85 Interchange Known as the "Downtown Connector" these roads intersect about three miles north of downtown Atlanta. It passes through midtown and downtown Atlanta in a north/south direction. This interchange has one of the highest volumes of highway traffic in the country, carrying more than 340,000 vehicles per day.

New York, NY G.W. Bridge Exit Ramp for North Bound Major Deegan Expressway This spiraling ramp is congested by trucks that must weave across two lanes to get to the upper level of the George Washington Bridge. The result is traffic jams on both the Deegan and Cross Bronx expressways. Traffic jams can last from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and in the evening from 3:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., adding up to six and half hours of congestion daily.

Seattle, WA SR 520 Bridge At the heart of Seattle's traffic congestion is SR 520 — one of Puget Sound's major arteries for transporting people and goods. One of the oldest floating bridges in the world, the SR 520 Evergreen Point Bridge is at the end of its useful life and needs to be replaced for the safety of the traveling public. If this bridge were to suffer a seismic failure, travel time between downtown and Seattle and Redmond would nearly double from an average of 33 minutes to 55 minutes.

Washington, DC Area I-495 at the I-270 Interchange This is one of the most congested sections of the Capital Beltway for Washington DC area commuters. It crosses through both Maryland and Virginia. I-270 terminates where it meets I-495 and runs northwest to Frederick, Maryland. Traffic volumes at the I-495 and I-270 interchange are extremely high in both the morning and evening commutes. Breakdowns and accidents on this span can have a major impact on the traffic flow in both Maryland and Virginia suburbs.

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